Turkey has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1964. The Oscar is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since.
As of 2026, Turkey has submitted thirty-three films, but none of them were nominated.
Submissions The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1956. The International Feature Film Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.
For different reasons, many Turkish films were submitted for the category by other countries. Switzerland submitted two: 1982's Yol by Yilmaz Güney, that had to be smuggled into Switzerland for post-production due to political considerations after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, and 1990's winner Journey of Hope, about Turkish refugees in Europe. Over the years, several other European countries have chosen films that were partially set in Turkey and featured large sections in Turkish including Austria (For a Moment, Freedom), France (Mustang), Germany (The Edge of Heaven) and Greece (A Touch of Spice).
Four directors have represented Turkey more than once: Tunç Başaran, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Semih Kaplanoğlu and Yavuz Turgul.
Three Monkeys (2008) advanced to the December shortlist, but it was not nominated. As of 2026, it is the only Turkish film to advance to the shortlist (second phase of voting).
All the films submitted are primary in Turkish. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Turkey for review by the academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.
Year(Ceremony) Film title used in nomination Original title Director Result 1964(37th) Dry Summer Susuz Yaz 1989(62nd) Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite Uçurtmayı Vurmasınlar 1992(65th) Piano Piano Kid Piyano Piyano Bacaksız 1993(66th) The Blue Exile Mavi Sürgün 1994(67th) Tarzan of Manisa Manisa Tarzanı Orhan Oğuz 1997(70th) The Bandit Eşkıya 1999(72nd) Mrs. Salkım's Diamonds Salkım Hanımın Taneleri 2000(73rd) Run for Money Kaç Para Kaç 2001(74th) Big Man, Little Love Büyük Adam Küçük Aşk 2002(75th) 9 2003(76th) Distant Uzak 2005(78th) Lovelorn Gönül Yarası 2006(79th) Ice Cream, I Scream Dondurmam Gaymak Yüksel Aksu 2007(80th) A Man's Fear of God Takva Özer Kızıltan 2008(81st) Three Monkeys Üç Maymun 2009(82nd) I Saw the Sun Güneşi Gördüm 2010(83rd) Honey Bal 2011(84th) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da 2012(85th) Where the Fire Burns Ateşin Düştüğü Yer İsmail Güneş 2013(86th) The Dream of a Butterfly Kelebeğin Rüyası 2014(87th) Winter Sleep Kış Uykusu 2015(88th) Sivas 2016(89th) Cold of Kalandar Kalandar Soğuğu Mustafa Kara 2017(90th) Ayla: The Daughter of War Ayla Can Ulkay 2018(91st) The Wild Pear Tree Ahlat Ağacı 2019(92nd) Commitment Bağlılık Aslı 2020(93rd) Miracle in Cell No. 7 7. Koğuştaki Mucize Mehmet Ada Öztekin 2021(94th) Commitment Hasan Bağlılık Hasan 2022(95th) Kerr 2023(96th) About Dry Grasses Kuru Otlar Üstüne 2024(97th)LifeHayat 2025(98th) One of Those Days When Hemme Dies Hemme’nin Öldüğü Günlerden Biri Murat Fıratoğlu 2026(99th) Kesilmiş Bir Ağaç Gibi Tunç Davut
See also List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best International Feature Film List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films Cinema of Turkey
Notes
References
External links The Official Academy Awards Database The Motion Picture Credits Database IMDb Academy Awards Page